Day 3

Hello friends, family, and newcomers. Welcome to or welcome back to my blog where I am documenting the process leading up to and during my first humanitarian mission to Eldoret, Kenya.

Today is Tuesday, April 1st. We enjoyed sleeping in and having a leisurely morning, which was quite pleasant. We sipped on coffee and had a light breakfast, relaxed by the pool, and packed our belongings. For our final lunch at the hotel, I had another avocado smash sandwich, which was just as delicious as the first time, although it had less avocado.

In the mid-afternoon, we departed from our hotel to return to the airport, where we joined the rest of the campaign. On our way, we encountered a protest taking place outside a hospital. Later, we received an email from the Cleveland Clinic with a pinned location, informing us that we had been near a protest that led to a nearby building being set on fire. Fortunately, by that time, we were safe and far from the incident.

Upon arriving at the airport, it was wonderful to finally meet everyone I had been speaking with online for the past five months. From there, we all boarded buses and set off for Naivasha, where we would spend the night. On our way to Naivasha, we made two stops. The first was at a local supermarket where we purchased some fruit (fruit we could peel ourselves, as it's advised not to eat raw or pre-cut fruits here), along with water bottles and some Kenyan chips. According to Dr. Spivak, we will be having a girl dinner with these. Our second stop was at a stunning overlook featuring two volcanoes, some mountains, and a valley. We took a group photo here, and some of us ended up buying locally handcrafted products. It was fascinating to observe the contrast in landscape and greenery between the city of Nairobi and what we encountered as we entered the mountains and reached Naivasha. We saw extensive farmland and many farm animals.

Upon arriving in Naivasha, we settled into our hotel and had dinner, another buffet-style meal at the resort. I enjoyed rice with masala, chapati (the tortilla-like food I mentioned yesterday), grilled vegetables, and a bread roll. After dinner, we held a year-in-review celebration ceremony. We took time to appreciate all the efforts made over the past year to make this trip possible. I had the opportunity to give a presentation about social media and its impact on educating others about female pelvic fistulas, the work being done at GynoCare, and the Campaign. I was grateful for the chance to speak to such a remarkable group of people. After the presentations, we received beautiful name tag holders made by the women at Beyond Fistula house, a non-profit that teaches skills to women so they can reintegrate into society after fistula repair surgery. We also received official shirts that we will wear during our opening ceremony on Thursday. We then cut and ate cake to celebrate and officially welcome everyone to Kenya.

After our welcome dinner, as we walked back to our huts, we encountered a few zebras and discovered a baby hippo in our "backyard." We're not entirely certain if it was a baby hippo or a pygmy hippo, but I'm leaning towards it being a baby hippo. We spent some time on the patio enjoying the wildlife and the beautiful night. The stars were out, shining brightly. We then showered and went to bed around midnight.

The past three days have been incredible, and I couldn't have wished for a better beginning to this trip. Our hospital work officially starts on Friday, so I'm really pleased we've had the chance to explore the country and enjoy some of its offerings. Staying at the resort tonight has been a delight; I wasn't sure what to anticipate. It's been stunning, and the brick huts are so beautifully designed and arranged. That's all for today; thank you all for keeping up with the journey. Until tomorrow :)

All Love,

Meg